Hiring a Sales Guy. I was recently asked, how should a non-sales person go about hiring a sales person?
I’ve talked about hiring before. But, I think things change a bit when the hiring person is NOT a sales person. There are a lot of things to look for in hiring a really good sales person and for someone who has never sold before or is unfamiliar with sales it can be especially daunting and intimidating. My advice for a non-sales person hiring a sales person, hire the person who asks the most questions. Really good sales people probe, they try to understand the buyers problems, challenges, objectives, goals and more. If you’re a non sales person who is making your first sales hire, focus on the questions. Hiring good sales people can be difficult and complex. Commission Plans. Last week's MBA Mondays post about Bookings, Revenues, and Collections generated a number of comments and questions about sales commission plans.
So I decided to ask my friend and AVC community member Jim Keenan to write a guest post on the topic. Jim's blog, A Sales Guy, is a great read for those who want to get into the mind of a sales leader. So with that intro, here are Jim's high level thoughts on setting up commission plans. I know the discussion on this post is going to be a good one.
So make sure to click on the comments link and if you are so inclined, please let us know what you think on this topic. I get asked a lot how to build a good commission plan. It amazes me how often companies screw this up. Sales people are coin operated. Sales people don't hear what you say; they hear what you pay! The killer commission plan starts with two critical questions;1) What do you want to sell? What do you want to sell? How do you want the team to behave? Complicated plans de-motivate. My Sales Management System. I manage my sales organizations using a system.
I didn’t always have a system. Like many sales leaders, I managed to quota, or to the number of calls, or the funnel or to some varying combination of all those. Doing this, I had a modicum of success, but it wasn’t until I learned how to put it all into a system that major success happened. My system has changed and morphed over the years, but it’s relatively simple. I’ve created a system that takes into consideration ALL the elements of sales and integrates them into a repeatable process. My system looks like this; talent>expectations>goals>planning>inspection>coaching> review. Talent: I hire and keep great talent. Expectations: With the talent in place, I set very clear expectations. Goals: Knowing what it is we are chasing is critical. Planning: We create plans; living, breathing, plans. Inspection: Everything we commit to doing is inspected. ”Inspect what you expect.”
Review: Review is the big tortilla that wraps it all up.